Press Release Fun: Children’s Media Association – Journeys to Publication

Got the flu this week and this weekend I’m speaking at the Eastern NY SCBWI Regional Conference as well as the Brooklyn Book Festival the next day.  Hence the Press Release bonanza today.  Hope it’s cool with you.  I’m moderating this upcoming very fun panel.  Hope to see you there!

You have developed an idea for a book, or written a whole manuscript…now how do you get the book published? The publishing world is changing and much of what we hear is conflicting: “Ebooks are the future.” “The publishing industry is collapsing.” “Anyone can get published.” But what does this all mean?

An author’s goal is to get their story into the hands of a reader and share their creation with a wide audience. The business of publishing is what takes a manuscript from an author’s computer and into a reader’s hands.

What is the best type of publishing for you brick and mortar publisher, self publishing or stay digital? We are bringing together 6 new young adult and middle grade authors who have been published in the last year to answer these questions and more. Join us for an enlightening evening as they discuss their varied adventures in publishing their first books.

Panelists include: Ame Dyckman (Boy and Bot), Lynda Mullaly Hunt (One for the Murphys), Joanne Levy (Small Medium at Large), Katherine Longshore (Gilt), Elisa Ludwig (Pretty Crooked), Sarvenaz Tash (The Mapmaker and the Ghost). The panel will be  hosted by author, librarian, and popular blogger Betsy Bird.

More about our panelists:
Ame Dyckman
Ame Dyckman reads picture books when she’s supposed to be sleeping.  Sometimes she
writes them by flashlight, too. Her recent books include:
• BOY + BOT, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf; 2012)
• TEA PARTY RULES, illustrated by K.G. Campbell (Viking; October 3, 2013)
• WOLFIE & DOT, illustrated by Zachariah OHora (Little, Brown; Spring, 2015)
• HORRIBLE BEAR, illustrated by Zachariah OHora (Little, Brown; Fall, 2015)
Ame lives with her family and menagerie in Lawrenceville, NJ.  Be sure to follow Ame on Twitter where she reviews picture books and Tweets random goofy thoughts.
Twitter: @AmeDyckman                              Website: http://www.amedyckman.com

Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Lynda Mullaly Hunt is the author of middle-grade novel, ONE FOR THE MURPHYS (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin), winner of The Tassy Walden Award: New Voices in Children’s Literature, an ABA New Voices Pick, and an Editor’s Choice Book with Scholastic Book Clubs. Lynda has also directed the SCBWI-NE Whispering Pines Retreat for eight years and is a former teacher and Scenario Writing coach. Her second novel, ALPHABET SOUP, will be released in spring, 2015. Lynda lives with her husband, two kids, impetuous beagle and beagle-loathing cat.
Twitter: @Lynmullalyhunt                            Website: http://lyndamullalyhunt.com/

Joanne Levy
Joanne Levy’s debut, a funny and sweet book for tweens, SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE, was released from Bloomsbury in 2012. A survivor of the corporate world, Joanne is also a virtual assistant, providing admin services to busy authors via www.jlauthorservices.com. Joanne lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and a lot of pets, one of whom vomited during the writing of this bio.
Twitter: @joannelevy                                    Website: www.joannelevy.com

Katherine Longshore
Katherine Longshore is the author of GILT, a  story of friendship and betrayal set in the court of Henry VIII and  TARNISH, the story of a young Anne Boleyn.  She has worked as a ship’s  steward, a freelance travel writer, coffee shop barista and Montessori preschool teacher, but believes she has found her calling in writing novels for young people. She now lives in California with her husband, two children and a sun-worshiping dog.
Twitter: @KALongshore                                            Website: www.katherinelongshore.com

Elisa Ludwig
Elisa Ludwig studied writing at Vassar College and Temple University, but she wanted to be a writer long before all of that—technically since she started writing, editing and publishing The Elisa Bulletin which she printed out on a dot matrix printer and sold for ten cents a pop. In the intervening years she has worked as a freelance writer, covering the following topics: hot dogs, insurance, cyber theft, penny-pinching, drug development, weddings, other people’s books, music, movies, restaurants, mental health issues, diets, engineering, whiskey, furniture, real estate and travel. But writing about teenagers is her favorite subject.She has been pick-pocketed twice, and once caught someone mid-pocket. Other than occasional jaywalking, she’s a law-abiding citizen. She lives in  Philadelphia with her husband and son. PRETTY CROOKED is her first novel, and will be followed by PRETTY SLY in 2014, and PRETTY WANTED in 2015.
Twitter: @elisaludwigya                                            Website: http://www.elisaludwig.com/

Sarvenaz Tash
Sarvenaz Tash was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up on Long Island, NY. She received her BFA in Film and Television from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. This means she got to spend most of college running around and making movies (it was a lot of fun). She has dabbled in all sorts of writing including screenwriting, copywriting, and professional tweeting. Sarvenaz currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST is her debut novel.
Twitter: @sarvenaztash                                                Website: www.sarvenaztash.com

More about our moderator:
Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is New York Public Library’s Youth Materials Specialist.  She runs the popular children’s literary blog A Fuse #8 Production, hosted by School Library Journal, and reviews for Kirkus and The New York Times on occasion.  Bird is the author of the picture book GIANT DANCE PARTY, released this past spring, and she has an upcoming adult title with Candlewick coming out in 2014 called WILD THINGS: ACTS OF MISCHIEF IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE which she wrote with fellow bloggers Jules Danielson and Peter Sieruta.
Twitter: @FuseEight        Blog: https://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/
Registration will open for Members on Tuesday, September 17, 2013. Register here.

Registration will open for Non-members on Wednesday, September 18, 2013. Register here.

Get the conversation started! Tweet #CMANewAuthors and tell us what you think!

Filed under: Press Release Fun